© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi ��.��63/9789004307438_ 009
Chapter 7
Esoteric Buddhism at the Crossroads: Religious
Dynamics at Dunhuang, 9th–10th Centuries
Henrik H. Sørensen
Introduction
More than two decades ago I published an article on the development of
Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang and its iconography as reflected in the wall
paintings at the Mogao Caves (莫高窟) and the bannerpaintings recovered
from Cave no. 17.1 Being dissatisfied with current studies, especially the then
recently published two-article installment by the Chinese expert Su Bai (宿
白) in the Chinese journal Wenwu 文物 [Cultural Relics],2 which across the
board ignores the textual and contextual background(s) of Esoteric Buddhist
art, not only in China but also at Dunhuang, provoked me to rework the then
available material in order to produce a more up-to-date study giving more
attention to the written sources. At that time Esoteric Buddhism as a distinct
form of Chinese Buddhism at Dunhuang had been largely overlooked by the
members of the scholarly community.3 Moreover, only superficial attention
had then been accorded its place in the local art.4 Nowadays this situation has
1 Sørensen, Henrik H., “Typology and Iconography in the Esoteric Buddhist Art of Dunhuang,”
Silk Road Art and Archaeology 2 (1991–92): 285–349.
2 The two articles were later compiled as one and published in Bai Su 宿白, Zhongguo shiku
si yanjiu 中國石窟寺研究 [Studies in Chinese Cave Temples] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe,
1996), 279–310.
3 One exception being the groundbreaking essay by Eastman, Kenneth, “Mahāyoga Texts at
Tun-huang,” Bukkyō bunkan kenkyūkiyō 佛教文化研究所紀要 [Bulletin of Buddhist Textual
Studies] 22 (1983): 42–60; and that by Kimiaki, Tanaka, “A Comparative Study of Esoteric
Buddhist Manuscripts and Icons Discovered at Dun-huang,” in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings
of the 5th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies Narita 1989, vol. 1, ed.
Ihara Shōren and Yamaguchi Zuihō (Narita: Naritasan Shinshoji, 1992), 275–279. In both
cases, unfortunately, the implications of their work have been largely overlooked in broader,
scholarly circles.
4 An attempt to redress this problem can be seen in the exhibition catalogue, Klimburg-
Salter, Deborah, ed., The Silk Road and the Diamond Path: Esoteric Buddhist art on the
Trans-Himalayan trade routes (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1982).